Recording when you go over cal goals

If I know how much I exactly ate, then I will log it. If I just go crazy, likely I will not know how much of what I ate.

I record it all, except on Christmas Day (I did my best to log, but it was just too difficult to work out as I wasn't the cook)... and when I'm away from home I also struggle to log when the nutritional information isn't provided by the establishment where I eat. But normal daily recording, good AND bad? Absolutely, I log it all.

I went through a phase of trying to keep each day's total right on what I was allowed and adding any surplus to the next day's food, in an attempt to balance it over a week... the problem with that is that once you start doing it, it gets very difficult to ever get back on track again, and you eventually end up going into the next week's allowance too. So I don't do that any more.

I've eaten really, really badly this year. This past week hasn't been as bad as previously, but it still isn't great. But since I've logged all the really bad days/weeks too, I can see the improvement in the past week... and that's helpful to me.

I've been doing this for almost a year and used to log every bite as well every single day. Lately I've been giving myself cheat days where I don't log at all. Especially if I'm going out to dinner or something and it's harder to know the calorie amounts anyway. Sometimes I just have days where I need breaks from logging but I don't make it a habit. And on days I do log, I log everything even if it turns into a bad day

Record it all

I record everything as well. When I have had a bad day I have been surprised that what I have eaten doesn't actually amount to as much overage as I had thought.

I put the "overage" onto the next day's breakfast. I am starting out with fewer calories to burn for the day, but that way it averages out over 2 days.

That's a good idea. I sometimes close my diary but then get tempted to have something that would take me over my daily limit. This would help average things out as MFP doesn't do it over a week. Thanks for that idea.

I JUST did this last night (okay around 2am this morning) and it was EMBARASSING! I made my food diary public for accountability purposes and admitting that I am eating fast food junk (when I am not THAT hungry) has been a real wake up call. If you are looking for friends by the way add me! I could use more encouragement and good luck to you as well!

I put the "overage" onto the next day's breakfast. I am starting out with fewer calories to burn for the day, but that way it averages out over 2 days.

That's a good idea. I sometimes close my diary but then get tempted to have something that would take me over my daily limit. This would help average things out as MFP doesn't do it over a week. Thanks for that idea.

SUCH a good idea!! I am going to do that today!! Thanks!

I record everyday except for my cheat days (I have one a week on either saturday or sunday) and if I go over I just make sure I know exactly where I went wrong/what to cut out next time...
Night snacking is usually what gets me so I'm trying to get to bed earlier and eat a bigger breakfast in the morning.

To me, the most valuable feature of MFP is the data you create and can then analyze to see what's working and what's not. If you don't log on the days you overeat, your data is worthless.

I record everything the good, bad, & ugly. What's the point in lying to yourself. You must be accountable to yourself first before being accountable to others.

I don't always record, usually if I have already added my days stuff and then have a late night snack but I dont actually do that often. I don't use mpf to hold myself accountable, more it is just a tool so that I can aim to stay around a certain amount of calories and if I go over it is not the end of the world, though not something I want to do everyday.

I dont reward myself or kid myself if mpf says I am always good lol

I record it all.

I've been up to 2k calories over on an exceptionally rotten day. But I log it all anyway. I don't care about other people seeing that on my diary. I'm not here to impress anybody by being perfect every day. Screw being perfect. I'm human, and I mess up sometimes. It's normal.

Like others, I like to look back over my bad days and see what things I could have done without. "If I had gotten the small instead of the medium, I would have been good." etc

I'm an emotional eater so I don't really need to track calories when I go over to figure out where I went wrong. If I'm having a rough time, well I go over. A lot. I do consciously make the decision to do so and it only happens in the evening and then I'll have one large delicious item but usually tracking exactly what I have is too depressing so I normally log "emotional snack - 1000cal" (because it normally more than that). That way I can clearly see that I went far over (it generally puts me over by the amount that snack had because I only do this in the evening) but I spare myself the agony of counting all of it.

It's important to record everything. It's okay to slip and/or have a cheat day. The more you deny yourself, the more likely you are to continue to over-eat. Use it as motivation to stay at your calorie goal, but don't get down on yourself too much- nobody is perfect, and everyone deserves a break. Plus, if you're not seeing results, you can look back and see that you've been eating more than you should, or not exercising enough. You won't have any excuses to fall back on, other than your own behavior. And, remember, keep good food around the house and you will eat good food. That's the easiest way to stick to your goal.